God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie was somewhat confused: "Bet? Bet on what? Bet on whether Zhao Heng will keep his promise? That doesn’t seem feasible, does it?"

Yao Yuan shook his head: "Of course not betting on whether Zhao Heng will keep his promise.

"Actually, I do have a rather unreliable plan and have made some preparations and attempts.

"Although it’s built on speculations about human nature and can’t be heavily relied upon, theoretically, there’s still a small chance of success.

"But the problem is, in the part I can control, there’s still one last step not completed."

Huang Shengjie hurriedly asked, "What step?"

Yao Yuan explained: "To force Zhao Heng into violent or illegal behavior."

Huang Shengjie shook his head instinctively: "That’s too difficult, almost impossible.

"I already felt it when I faced him earlier; though he seems like a maniac, he’s actually very calm and composed, hardly losing control due to anger.

"Moreover, he’s professionally trained, his physical control far surpasses that of ordinary people.

"As long as he senses our intention to ’force him into illegal behavior,’ he will certainly be wary."

Yao Yuan was silent for a moment, then took out something from his pocket: "What if we have this?

"This is what He Qinyun and I discovered among the ’grocery-type’ materials, it might be somewhat helpful."

Huang Shengjie reached out to take it, startled for a moment.

"How could there be such a thing in this game? Did the Imitator intend this?

"In that case... maybe... there really is some hope.

"Then leave this matter to me.

"Since Brother Yao Yuan thinks this plan has a certain success rate, let’s give it a try.

"For the third round, we’ll all transport the forbidden goods, it’s a bet!"

...

...

The third round of the game begins.

[In this round, ’grocery-type’ materials have been selected as ’forbidden goods.’]

Upon hearing the broadcast, Huang Shengjie was taken aback.

"It’s really not the drug category selected as forbidden goods, huh? It’s the grocery-type again?

"Sister Wanlin, you really guessed it right.

"Was this randomly selected, or intentionally arranged by the Imitator?"

Zhou Wanlin quickly operated at the steam train’s control panel: "It should be designed on purpose by the Imitator.

"He probably anticipated some players would do this, so deliberately blocked this route."

Huang Shengjie was somewhat puzzled: "Why? Allowing players to hoard goods, doesn’t it offer higher strategic freedom?"

Zhou Wanlin was silent for a moment, then whispered: "Maybe... it’s to test the players’ sensitivity to written rules instead."

As she spoke, she adjusted the ratio for this transport to 0:0:1, meaning all the loaded materials were forbidden goods of the ’grocery-type.’

Even Geng Yuxia was no longer acting as a reviewer; the entire Review Room was fully idle, and even if the opposite side was transporting forbidden goods, no review would be conducted.

Just as Huang Shengjie said, they decided to gamble everything for the greatest gain.

Of course, considering Geng Yuxia’s not-so-good health, she wasn’t arranged to transport the forbidden goods but rather stayed by the steam train after Zhou Wanlin set its program, ensuring the train wouldn’t stop and all forbidden goods could be delivered to the Review Room.

In the mist, Huang Shengjie, Zhou Wanlin, and Yao Yuan tried to take as many forbidden goods as possible, and silently walked toward the direction of the prison cell in Community 2.

Yet soon, Yao Yuan stopped.

In the distance, through the mist, Zhao Heng’s figure like a mountain appeared.

His hands were empty, clearly not intending to keep his promise to cooperate, but instead to stop Community 2 from transporting forbidden goods.

Yao Yuan sighed silently: "You really didn’t plan to keep the promise.

"It’s really not surprising at all.

"Why must you do this? The rules clearly allow for a win-win."

Zhao Heng stepped closer, one step at a time: "Because I can.

"This is Walkway, where the strong and the winners can do whatever they want."

Zhou Wanlin carefully observed his expression: "You indeed hid some ’drug-type’ materials on the field, didn’t you?

"If they became forbidden goods, you might consider transporting them to gain extra yields.

"But since the forbidden goods selected in this round are ’grocery-type,’ these materials have become a minor inconvenience.

"So, you decided to disrupt us, widening the gap between our groups, ultimately achieving 1.5 times yield target."

Yao Yuan remained calm, looking at Zhao Heng and adding: "But that’s only part of the reason.

"Another reason is to maintain your persona.

"Zhao Heng, you actually rule Community 23 through fear, but violence can’t be used within the community.

"Although your image looks intimidating and does have some impact, it’s far from enough to counter Walkway’s underlying rules.

"So, you need to constantly reinforce this terror among community players, making them fear and obey.

"Controlling drugs is one aspect, setting collective punishment rules is one aspect, but more importantly, it’s showing them you’re someone with no boundaries, who absolutely doesn’t cooperate.

"If you cooperate with us, it’ll give community members an illusion of ’negotiability,’ which would ruin your image within the community.

"When players within the community stop fearing you, they naturally start thoughts of resistance.

"Not only do you need to win enough visa time, but you also need to show everyone the consequences of opposing you, both are equally important.

"Which is the so-called... ’Lawless and unpredictably threatening.’

"Of course, maybe you’re just such a perverse and extreme personality.

"Taking pleasure in terror, pressure, and control, enjoying the sensation.

"Am I right?"

Zhao Heng didn’t answer, only kept approaching.

Yao Yuan, Zhou Wanlin, and Huang Shengjie put down the materials in their hands to avoid violating the rules from his touch.

Zhao Heng continued: "This game allows non-disabling, non-lethal violence, it just consumes violation counts.

"Currently, our community has 2 violation counts available, and I have one personal violation count available.

"I’d advise you not to harbor any illusions, if necessary, I don’t mind using one count to teach you a painful lesson.

"Although I’d fall into paralysis, your fate would be much worse."

He paused slightly, revealing a cold smile: "You must have tried recruiting our community’s players, right?

"Isn’t it curious why our players are willing to share community information, yet can’t be recruited no matter what?

"Because it’s something I allow.

"The information of our community is a bait, enticing you to subconsciously think about recruiting, distracting you, interfering with your strategy.

"Precisely because you had your mind set on recruiting to win definitively, it ultimately affected normal strategy.

"And when you realized recruiting was impossible, it was too late.

"You should now understand that our community players are always in a state of ’appear easy to recruit, seemingly just a bit more effort will do’, but in reality, they’re neither willing nor want to leave Community 23."

Huang Shengjie couldn’t help but curse: "Nonsense!"